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Cosmas Tzavelis

Professor of Civil Engineering

Dr. Cosmas Tzavelis is a Professor of Civil Engineering at The Cooper Union since 1986. He has been teaching the Structural Analysis and Design classes such as Introduction to Engineering Design, Structural Analysis I and II, Solid Mechanics, Steel and Concrete Design, Experimental Projects and Senior Design projects. He is the Faculty Advisor of the student ASCE club and has been recognized by the Cooper Union students for his passion and dedication towards their education.

Prof. Tzavelis has obtained his Ph.D. in Civil Engineering and Engineering Mechanics from Columbia University of NY in 1984 with his dissertation entitled "Seismic Reliability of Rigid Frame Structures”.  His research interests include Information Management in Architecture, Engineering and Construction (BIM etc), Innovative Bridge Design and learning from Nature as well as Structural Analysis of the human skeleton and joints.

Prof. Tzavelis is a registered Professional Engineer in the state of New York and consults local firms in Building Information Management and Structural Steel design. In the past he was involved in the Rehabilitation of the bottom lateral system of the Queensboro Bridge in NY, the issue of guidelines for the Inspection, Evaluation and Repair of the Bridges of New York City,  and the Design of the Day Center and Student Housing of the University of West Indies in Trinidad.

He has been elected to the Who’s Who Among American Teachers publication, nominated by the National Dean’s List students, honoring those special teachers who “took time to lead, inspire and demand excellence”. He  was Honorablly  mentioned and received an award for the design of the Bridge of the Future, at the Great Seto Bridge Memorial Center in Japan and received a Prize from the American Aluminum Association for the design of a prefabricated aluminum partitioning system.

Selected publications and Master’s thesis supervised include:  "An object-oriented xml database to share engineering data" ,  “Giving Meaning to Design Data Using XML” , “A Structural Engineer’s guide to using Revit Structures”,  "Effects of pre-stressing on the Structural Behavior of Stress-Ribbon Bridges”,  “A new approach in structural analysis using 3-d moment distribution and visual basic” , "An object oriented database management system for sharing engineering data", "An object-oriented approach to establish relationships between civil engineering building objects".

  • Founded by inventor, industrialist and philanthropist Peter Cooper in 1859, The Cooper Union for the Advancement of Science and Art offers education in art, architecture and engineering, as well as courses in the humanities and social sciences.

  • “My feelings, my desires, my hopes, embrace humanity throughout the world,” Peter Cooper proclaimed in a speech in 1853. He looked forward to a time when, “knowledge shall cover the earth as waters cover the great deep.”

  • From its beginnings, Cooper Union was a unique institution, dedicated to founder Peter Cooper's proposition that education is the key not only to personal prosperity but to civic virtue and harmony.

  • Peter Cooper wanted his graduates to acquire the technical mastery and entrepreneurial skills, enrich their intellects and spark their creativity, and develop a sense of social justice that would translate into action.